Playwright's Latest Work Explores Holocaust-Era Relationship

Mark Leib went to Harvard University in 1980 planning to focus on a degree in government. But it wasn’t long before his love of writing took over and he began creating poetry.

“When I was at Harvard, I wrote almost only poetry until one day I tried to write a play in verse and fell in love with dramatic form,” Leib said.

Once he started writing plays, he couldn’t find it within himself to stop, so he decided to take his future in a different direction. He received a degree in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.

“I’ve been hooked ever since,” said the Temple Terrace resident and husband of Patch writer . “When I had my first major regional production of my play ‘Terry by Terry’ at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, (Mass.) I knew that this was something I’d want to do forever.”

To date, Leib has written eight full-length plays. His production “Art of People,” an off-Broadway play, appeared at the Players Theatre in New York City in 2006. His play “American Duet” was produced last June at the Studio@620 in St. Petersburg. And “An Angel from Aucshwitz,” which Leib wrote in 2010, had a at American Stage in St. Petersburg in October.

Now, Leib’s most recent work, “A River in the Desert,” will play at WMNF’s Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S. in St. Petersburg, on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. The event is part of the radio station’s third season of live radio theater. It’s free and open to all ages. The play will be rebroadcast at a later date on WMNF 88.5 during the station’s Soundstage Audio Theatre program on Sundays at 9 p.m.

“A River in the Desert” depicts issues from World War II and the Holocaust. In this play, an SS officer in the German Army confronts a Jewish man who was his philosophy professor. The plot is wrapped around one issue: Can these two men find common ground?

Leib said he became interested in the Holocaust and wanted to write a play that illustrated situations that could have happened during that time period. He began doing research for “An Angel from Auschwitz” in 2008.

“I read over a thousand pages on the subject, including several memoirs by survivors of Auschwitz,” Leib said.

As he was researching, he said he found that the material was inspiring him to also write “A River in the Desert.”

In addition to being a playwright, Leib is a theatre critic for Creative Loafing magazine and a visiting instructor at the University of South Florida and an adjunct professor at Eckerd College.

He said his passion comes from the creation of the characters in his plays.

“I love dialogue and the clash of intellects and emotions,” he said, “the suspense that comes from trying to decide between antagonists who all seem to have reason on their side.”